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Joe Pug – “Messenger”Lightning Rod Records– out Feb. 163 / 5 Chicago-based folk singer Joe Pug has been stirring the pot with his old-school Dylan-esque brand of one-man folk. And we might as well come out and say it: here at the blog, we love his EPs “Nation of Heat” and “In the Meantime,” which he’d been giving away for free. But somehow, the magic hasn’t translated as well on his first full-length, and here’s why: all the gritty emotional content, the incalculable lyricism has been replaced with the addition of drums and bass. To put this in terms of Dylan, it’s as if PugRead More →

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Post Harbor – “They Can’t Hurt You if You Don’t Believe in Them”Burning Building Records– out Feb 16th2.5 / 5 Whether you run a mile or twenty, it’s all about pacing. This is the theory behind Seattle slow-rockers Post Harbor in “They Can’t Hurt You if You Don’t Believe in Them,” a drawn-out, spacey guitar affair. Anyone familiar with a tortoise will find that both band and reptile lack the ability to change chords in less than four seconds; and while that which Post Harbor strikes out here isn’t altogether bad, much of what they utilize to get there (ponderous, repetitive power chords, distorted vocals)Read More →

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Field Music – “Field Music (Measure)”Memphis Industries– out Feb. 164 / 5 Since the dawn of time have musicians attempted the double album: Led Zeppelin, Electric Light Orchestra, Donna Summer, The Flaming Lips. In many cases, there simply isn’t enough interesting material to flesh out the more or less 80 minute requirement to hit that magical mark. Now enter Field Music: the Sunderland, England trio’s attempt is no “Blonde on Blonde,” nor is it a “Use Your Illusion.” Thankfully, it hits a strong classic rock vibe, with a Queen-ish tinge to some of the harmonies, while some guitar licks (the title track “Measure”) could haveRead More →

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FM Belfast – “How to Make FriendsKimi– out Feb. 23.5 / 5 This pastel-colored debut from Icelandic FM Belfast launches with an electronica/ dance vibe. While most of us assume it is simply too cold to dance in Iceland (fooled again: you were thinking of misnamed Greenland), the foreign (mostly) four-piece swagger as if they owned the genre; “Frequency” struts a la Travolta, and “I Can Feel Love” makes even the cowbell hip. To compare to other recent albums in the genre, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “It’s Blitz” and TV on the Radio’s “Dear Science” both upstage Belfast here especially on the post-production layering. But whileRead More →